Dominick Cruz could be out of his upcoming January fight with John Lineker.
Dominick Cruz’s can’t catch a break. Following an initial Twitter report by MMA Brasil’s Tarso Doria, which claimed the former bantamweight champion could be out of his upcoming fight with John Lineker, sources close to MMAjunkie also informed the site that Cruz is, in fact, battling an undisclosed injury and the January bout could be in jeopardy.
#Breaking Dominick Cruz appears to be out of the fight against John Lineker with an injury. UFC is looking for Cody Garbrandt as replacement, sources tell me. More at @mmabrasil soon.
— Tarso Doria (@TarsoDoria) December 11, 2018
An UFC official also informed MMAjunkie that promotion was still ‘figuring out’ Cruz’s current status, and Lineker hasn’t been told if Cruz’s injury will cancel the fight. Although MMA Brasil’s original report stated former champ Cody Garbrandt could fill in for Cruz, sources close to the athlete informed the website that ‘No Love’ is nursing an injury of his own and won’t be cleared until March 2019.
Dominick Cruz, who has been away from the Octagon for two years, hasn’t stepped into the Octagon since a December 2016 unanimous decision loss to Cody Garbrandt and has struggled with injuries for the most part of his UFC career.
UFC 233 is expected to take place in Anaheim, California, on January 26. Originally, the card was meant to be headlined by a superfight between flyweight champion, Henry Cejudo, and the bantamweight title holder, TJ Dillashaw, but the bout was moved UFC on ESPN+ 1, on January 19. So far, no official replacement headliners were announced.